How well does a digital camera`s TTL metering translate to a 4x5 camera?

[MattKing]

Looks good - I take it you are local .

The blotchy look in the sky might be related to the long exposure - moisture/mist in the air or something similar.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

I don't know what could have been a problem with the agitation. Every 2nd minute I would do a slight agitation by bringing the holders up to the top of the box and letting them sit back down. Pretty much as we've been instructed to do.

In regard to squiggly artifacts, they are definitely not from the filters, especially if you did indeed shoot at f5.6 on a 4X5. Here is a test you can try, take a piece of clear plastic and write something on it with a sharpie. Put it in front of your lens and focus on something in the distance. You might see some indistinct darkening in the area of the lines, but likely you will not see anything at all. The area right in front of the lens is way too far from the plane of focus to resolve at all when you are focusing in the distance like you are, and with a pretty wide open aperture.

Dust with large format is a massive issue compared to roll film. It will probably take a while for you to track it all down. It was a major issue for me when I started with 4X5, but I did eventually get it down to a dull roar. Squiggly lines are likely from fibers from the bellows. When you pull out the dark slide, they can get on the film, so they are absolutely perfectly in focus. I would first very carefully clean the inside of your bellows with compressed air and perhaps very gently with a microfiber cloth or something similar. Also, clean the heck out of your holders and treat them like they are your most precious belongings. I used to keep mine in ziplock antistat bags, but I was in Denver at the time and the climate was very dry.

Good luck!

 

[JBrunner]

The sky thing looks exactly to me like insufficient agitation. You might start of with 30 seconds constant agitation, and then agitate for 10 seconds every minute... make sure you shake the sheet around some, don't just raise it up and drop it. You won't likely be "over-agitating" by doing this and the "penalty" of slight "over-agitation" is simply a bit more density and contrast, something IMO your subject matter would benefit from anyway.

 

[Treymac]

The sky thing looks exactly to me like insufficient agitation. You might start of with 30 seconds constant agitation, and then agitate for 10 seconds every minute... make sure you shake the sheet around some, don't just raise it up and drop it. You won't likely be "over-agitating" by doing this and the "penalty" of slight "over-agitation" is simply a bit more density and contrast, something IMO your subject matter would benefit from anyway.

Ok, thanks. I've always done that agitation method for 35mm and 120, but for large format my instructor said that it doesn't need as much agitation and only requires an up and down every 2 minutes.

I actually wanted a soft lack of contrast, but I think the scanning has further eliminated some contrast as it's less than the actual print.

And, my shots were all done at either f22 or f32, this one was done at f32.

I'm going to go out with medium format and use my Yashica Mat to get some 6x6 shots, using the filters, plus a red filter. And maybe also a polarizer, no idea what this combo will do but it sounds interesting. But that won't be for the project, I've already got 3 that I like quite a bit from the 4x5 camera, just have to play with them some before I do the final prints at 16x20.

 

[Luseboy]

I've found that when doing 4x5's they acctually need more agitation than the 35mm. I'm guessing, due to your explanation of how you agitate, that your using the deep tank system. if so, try using a little more agitation. The artifacts are most likely from that, as many have said. And if you want a lower contrast, you might consider cutting down development (only a little), and using a grade 1 paper or VC filter when at the enlarger. Personally, i try to get pretty dense negatives, and lower the contrast at the enlarger if i desire. But that's just me. Anyways, good luck. Im excited to see the outcome.